ATMA RAM Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These revisions have been referred to a larger Bench at the instance of our brother Gyanendra Kumar, J. in view of a conflict of judicial opinion in this Court on the question as to whether it is open to a duly empowered Magistrate to take cognizance of a non cognizable offence investigated by a Police Officer without the order of a competent Magistrate. This question had cropped up before us on a reference made by our brother Yashodanandan, J. in Criminal Revision No. 1529 of 1965 connected with Criminal Reference No. 413 of 1965. The conclusion at which we had arrived in those cases was that if the Police investigates a non-cognizable offence without the order of a competent Magistrate and submits a charge-sheet to the Magistrate that charge-sheet may well be treated as a complaint or as a piece of information raising a suspicion that an offence has been committed; and if a Magistrate takes cognizance of the alleged offence on receiving such a charge-sheet, the taking of cognizance cannot be said to be illegal. We have given further thought to the question referred and our conclusions are to a certain extent different from those reached in Criminal Revision and Criminal Reference referred to above.

(2.) The cases which have given rise to, the revisions under consideration were non-cognizable ones and in each of them a charge-sheet was submitted by the police although as competent Magistrate had not ordered investigation into those cases as required by Sub-section (2) of Section 155 Code of Criminal Procedure but of which cognizance had been taken by the Magistrate concerned.

(3.) The question for consideration is as to whether it was within the powers of the Magistrate to have taken cognizance of those cases.